Mountains always fascinated Jim Bridger. As a sturdy little boy of seven he set out to climb the big hill near his home in Richmond, Virginia. He astonished the guests at his father's inn by the accuracy with which he could draw a map of his "explorations."

When the Bridger family decided to move westward Jim was excited by the thought of the adventures that awaited travelers in the troubled year of 1812. There would be wild animals to hunt and beavers to trap, and —most exciting of all —maybe even Indians to fight.

The Bridgers journeyed by covered wagon and river boat and settled finally in the area of St. Louis. The boy with the dream of the West always ahead of him had to wait awhile. He did not go to school—he never learned to read or write—but he learned as much as any man could of the ways of the forest and of the wilderness, and he spoke its language well. For a time he operated a ferry barge and saw something of Mississippi River life. A boastful frontiersman named Mike Fink made fun of Jim's boat but in emergency it proved a seaworthy craft.

Then Jim set himself to learn blacksmithing. It was a useful trade for the frontier and it helped a future mountain man's physical development. Finally his opportunity came: he joined General William Ashley's fur-trapping expedition to go up the Missouri.

Bridger became one of the most famous of the mountain men, exploring in the Rocky Mountains and guiding the wagon trains of many pioneers. He is called the discoverer of Great Salt Lake and he was one of the first white men to see many of our natural wonders. His knowledge of the mountains and the mountain passes aided the Army in its surveys and the railroads too.

And always he was a marvelous teller of tall tales. Children and grownups alike listened fascinated when Jim Bridger chose to spin a yarn.

Children will find the story of Jim Bridger fascinating too. For he did the kind of things and had the kind of adventures a small boy (and many a little girl too) dreams of.

Gertrude Hecker Winders, author of a number of books in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series—all of them about frontier boys—has succeeded wonderfully well in picturing frontier life as Jim Bridger knew it in the early 1800's and the skillful drawings of Harry Lees add much.

From the dust jacket